Impossible to hide
by Evil trash queen
Summary: If what you've tried to do for the past sixteen years of your life is hide away a part of yourself you've never let anyone see... Try staying away from your mind reading friends. /or/ In which Max is forced to help the new supe kid in hiddenville who's got a slight disability and can't fully control his superpower, mind reading.
1. Chapter 1

The sight of their father having what clearly sounded like a troubled discussion through the phone was the first thing the Thunderman twins perceived when they walked by the main entrance of their home as they arrived from school on that Friday afternoon. The retired superhero sat at the very edge of the living room's couch and his body language showed worry, he furrowed his eyebrows trying hard to think of a solution for the situation he was being informed, deep reflection was written all over his slightly wrinkled features, he took a hand to his chin listening carefully to whatever the person in the other line had to tell him.

"I understand Tom... No, no! Of course I do! It's the least I can do for a friend like you! Of course, the kid and literally any of your family is always welcome in our home... This day next week? Perfect. I'll talk to my family... Take care!"

Those were his very last words before he hung up on that call, they were also the only words his children got the chance to hear. Both twins turned to each other for a second to exchange looks, almost as if they owned telepathy as their fourth superpower, they would always have some sort of conversation out of nothing but looks when they found themselves in either confused, dangerous, etc. situations to make sure they're on the same page, this case wasn't an exception. Finally they targeted their gazes at their father to demand information of what was happening.

"Dad? Who were you talking to?" Phoebe was the first one to shoot a direct question

"Oh hey kids! How long have you been there?" Hank wasn't trying to avoid the question, he just truly hadn't noticed his kids until then and wanted to start a conversation properly

"Enough to hear a little of what you said through the phone... What's going on?" Max insisted

"Agh... An old friend of mine, who I went to Hero High School and College with is having some family problems and I wanted to help..." He explained

"Who?" Asked the young hero

"Ever heard of Strident Man?" He asked

At the mention of that name Phoebe's face illuminated in both admiration and excitement whereas Max's went pale in anger and frustration, these two were literally each other's counterparts.

" _The_ Strident Man?!" Both asked simultaneously

"Yes, that would be the one"

"I've admired him ever since I investigated his biography for Hero History back in Metroburg when I was thirteen! He defeated an incredibly powerful and intelligent supervillian!" Exclaimed the eager young girl

"That 'Incredibly powerful and intelligent villian' you're talking about was Eclipsed Hatred and I've hated Strident Man ever since I was ten! When Colosso told me the story of how he turned him into a hamster just when he was about to finish his master piece! A machine that was able to extract the powers out of a supe's body!" Said Max in a tantrum manner

His sister rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back at their father

"And what family problems is he dealing with?" She concerned

"His youngest son... Ben, he has the over power syndrome.." He explained with pity

Phoebe took a hand to her mouth "oh really? That's terrible..."

"What is that?" Asked the oblivious teen boy

"The over power syndrome is when you never get to fully manage your powers, imagine that we would've never learnt how to control our telekinesis and we would just walk by the school's hallways making papers fly and shutting opened lockers" She answered his question

"Boy... Sounds serious, that must make keeping the secret almost impossible... Does he live in an all-supes town?" He reasoned

"I'm afraid not..." Thunderman said

"What's his super power?" Phoebe wondered

"Mind reading."

"Oh... Well... That's not as bad right? I mean, what's the worst thing he can do when he looses control of his ability?" The young villain thought

"Unluckily... It's a little more complicated than that... What Tom, that's Strident Man's real name by the way, told me is that his son, Ben, sometimes he'll just stare at someone and burst out some random fact about them, their lives, theirs thoughts, etc. Most kids just think of him as a freak but it's starting to become a real problem..." Hank explained

"And how are you helping dad?" The petite brunette asked

"Ben needs to start from zero... And Hiddenville high sounds like a perfect option. He'll be our guest for a little time... Only until Tom can fill some quitting papers at his job and move here to be with him. I also believe that spending more time with others kids of his age who deal with keeping their secret every day might help Ben even if it's just a little... I am also expecting you two to help him keep a low profile." He gave them a serious look and they both nodded, Max doing it more carelessly than Phoebe.

The middle aged father clapped his hands together "It's settled then! He'll be arriving next week! Since he registered himself online you'll be meeting him at school..." He gave them some very last details before heading to the kitchen to get a snack.

Six days passed in which both twins kept their normals lives going, Phoebe acing all of her subjects and attending to all of her after-school clubs, Max sleeping at all of the morning classes and skipping the after-lunch ones to smoke outside of the school with his band mates. It wasn't until the fourth period of the next week's Thursday when they got the chance to meet the so-called Ben. At that moment Max had been on the school's hallways checking out a group of senior girls with Oyster and Gideon when his name was called.

"Max Thunderman, please report yourself at the Principal's office. Max Thunderman, please come since there's literally not a chance you're at your class right now..." The speakers announced

A mischievous grin spread on his face feeling proud of his reputation. But that's when he realized he hadn't done anything that day for Bradford to want to talk to him... At least nothing that he could've got caught. He raised his shoulders before heading to the office, he needed reminder of anything bad he had forgotten he did so he could write it down in his evil chronicle anyways.

When he finally walked into the office the mood in the air was a lot lighter than he had expected it to be. Bradford was actually having a laugh with whoever was sitting in the chair on the opposite side of his desk. When he looked up to meet Max all of the joy in his face turned into annoyance.

"Thunderman." He said bitterly

"What up Bruce" The boy answered without a care as he let himself fall into the other chair of the room, earning a cold look from the principal who was not okay with being called by his first name. Finally getting a sight of who was the principal having a good time with before he walked in. It was nothing but a ginger boy, rather skinny, wild red curls grew from his head, and his freckled skin was so pale Max was sure anything... Even a sad movie would turn him into a talking tomato.

"Max, this is Ben." The principal informed, having a hard time at trying to have a bitter aura towards his unappreciated student but a friendly one towards the new kid

"Oh! It's You... Wait, it's you?" He would've expected the son of such a honored Hero to be a little more... Towering...

"I am guessing you are already familiarized with him"

"I've only heard of him... Our parents are good friends"

As the two men had their passionless exchange of words the impotent boy remained silent.

"Anyways, I had strict instructions from your father of assigning you Ben, which means you'll have to show him around, take him to all of his classes and..." Bradford picked up a little paper note from his desk, Max recognized Hank's scribbled messy handwriting on it "help him keep a low profile?..." The principal examined the new boy for a second "yeah... You won't have a hard time with that last one..."

Everything the upcoming villain wanted in the world in that moment was to leave the lame principal's office already, even if it meant having to deal and, most importantly, _being seen_ in public with the new nerd kid.

 _Today's gonna be a long day..._ He thought as he sighted

He stood up from his chair, hanged his backpack from his right shoulder and headed to the door leaving the principal in mid-sentence.

"Come on red head!" He called for Ben

The poor boy who noticeably lacked of any sort of social abilities awkwardly hurried to grab his own bag, fix his bow tie and stand up.

"Good bye principal Bradford. Sorry about your divorce..." He said before walking out

Leaving a very confused and shocked principal wondering where did that new boy could've possibly heard about his personal problems.

The pair of teens walked in silence through the almost empty hallways of their school, most people were in their classrooms at that time, only a few kids were either at the stairs or benches skipping classes, all of them gave odd and obnoxious looks at the unlucky boy. After all, in small towns it is very unlike to see a new face, if the face in question is attractive, it'd be almost like being a celebrity, with everyone chasing you and wanting to stick around with you. However, if the face is not (which was the unfortunate case of Ben) that person becomes the new target of all jock kids.

Max walked at his usual speed, keeping his head up in a cocky/confident way and his stare focused to never look back. Ben, being a lot shorter than him struggled to keep up with his pace and wondered wether to try talking to him or not, honestly, he was quite scared of Max.

"So mind reading huh? Is it cool?" The male twin finally spoke

"Sshh!" Ben shushed him anxiously, taking a finger to his lips and spitting a little in the process, Max was too tired to complain in that moment "Someone could hear you!" He yelled/whispered

"Hey calm down! No one cares about your business here and even if they do hear you they'll think we're talking about a video game or something. Trust me my sister and I have talked about our powers in public thousands of times" He assured him

The ginger looked beyond amused with that information, almost as if he would've found a whole new world to explore "And you've never been caught?" He gasped

"I'm Max Thunderman! I never get caught!"

"Ah, proudly wearing the family's last name right? What is it like to be son of such a legendary hero like Thunderman?" Ben looked, sounded, and acted like a pre-teen obsessed with comics, but instead of comics he was committed to actual superheroes.

His new acquaintance frowned. The whole family subject and literally everything related to people praising him for being his father's son was a very delicate topic for him. He hated being known for something he didn't have anything to do with, yeah, his father saved the world thousands of times, So? He wasn't even alive when it happened. Max had made up his mind a long time ago, one day, he would be known and praised for his own achievements. Which he hoped would be evil, like ruling the world or something along those lines. But he had to be very careful and not show how upset this made him, specially with this kid who could swallow his thoughts the way he swallowed a vitamins pill.

He checked the schedule Bradford had given him and quickly pointed to a door at the end of the hallway.

"That's your classroom, you're having physics at this period." He instructed him emotionlessly as he handed the red head his schedule

Ben did some strange kind of reverence before leaving, probably his wordless way of thanking him, the kid wasn't a big fan of talking if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

Max decided to go to his own class... He needed something to get his mind off his previous mental trouble, something boring enough to make his mind go blank.

The sound of the school's bell can be either beautiful or terrifying. Beautiful, like the last bell of a Friday. Terrifying, like when it announces the ending of the class you have before a test you didn't study for.

As the hallways were quickly filled with big masses of teenagers exiting their previous classrooms a specific owner of a black leather jacket made his way to the classroom of his unwanted ginger responsibility. Normally, he would've refused to do as he was told and would've just ignored the kid, but he had an almost finished rocket at home he couldn't wait to launch and he didn't want to risk his father taking it away from him as a punishment.

Ben was taking his time to put all of his books and stuff back at his backpack when Max approached him.

"Kiddo! You wanna be late to all of your classes on your first day or what?" He called from the doorframe

He just gave him an apologetic frown and hurried to pack, Max rested his back against the lockers next to the door with impatience and annoyance when he suddenly recognized a very well known brunette passing by, trying hard to get to her classroom. He sneaked behind her with a childish grin plastered on his face, the same smile of a kid who's about to play mischief and without any previous advice, he poked her ribs making her jump in surprise.

"Boo!" He screamed childishly

"Max!" Phoebe whined after letting a high pitched squeal escape her lips, punching her brother's chest in irritation

But he was far from being hurt, the boy just kept laughing feeling satisfied with his prank.

"Fine sorry, but I really needed a laugh" He kept chuckling

"Why?"

"I've been having to follow Ben all around the school today and he's a total nerd!"

Phoebe rolled her eyes, a you're-so-Max-ish smile on her face "You'll be fine... I'd like to stay and finally get to meet him but I really can't be late for chemistry" she excused herself

Her twin playfully bowed down "Have a delightful day oh my merciful Queen of Geeks" he teased, earning a laugh and another lighthearted punch, this time, on his arm from Phoebe

"Let your peace flow like a river oh my peasant of the tribe of failing six subjects or more!" She followed his game before messing a little with his hair

Max shot her a small wink and she finally turned around heading to her next class. He just stayed there watching her walk away, suddenly feeling a presence next to him he turned to his left to find Ben contemplating Phoebe as well.

"Whoa.." The skinny boy sighted dreamily

"Uh? Dude! How long have you been there?" Ben was definitely an unconventional boy

"What? Oh, Ermm... Not so long... I'm sorry Max, it's just... Whoa, your girlfriend's gorgeous.." He said

"Wait.. Wha- Phoebe? Bro you got it all wrong! That girl is my sister!" The supervillain said with disgust and embarrassment, because there was no logic reason to think they look like a couple right?

"Eh? Is she... Your sibling? Really? Then what was all that flirting for? And those looks you give each other? And why do you think she looks so cute when she crunches her nose in annoyance?"

"Uh? Agh, okay listen Ben, I'm unluckily stuck with you so if we're gonna make this work rule number one is You. Can't. Read. My. Mind." Max stated irritated

The poor read head looked down feeling ashamed "I'm sorry man... I just, I... I can't control it, I'm sorry" He apologized, because he was truly upset about his inability

His new friend sighted with just the ghost of guilt softly rolling in his stomach "okay... Fine... Let's just get you to your next class okay?"

As they walked by the place all of Max's band approached him enthusiastically.

"Sup bro! I have awesome news! Tell him Gideon!" Oyster said

"There's this new nicotine dealer hiding under Hiddenville's lagoon bridge who's the uncle of the father of the neighbor of the friend of the boss of the cousin of my brother's college teacher girlfriend!" He took a pause to breath "and he's giving me a 20% off in all we buy from him!" He announced

"We're gonna go get some! You coming?" Oyster invited him

"Damn, I'd love to but I can't. This pale red head here with us is Ben, Ben, my band, Band... This is Ben. Today's his first day and I gotta take him to all of his classes and take care of him or else..." He introduced him to his problematic best friends and explained his situation

Everyone looked at him expectantly, probably waiting for him to say hi or something, instead he immediately said with disgust "Skipping class?... For drugs?!"

"Yeah... What's the big deal mate? A teen without drugs it's like a winter without snow.." Oyster chuckled, suddenly earning a look of realization from Gideon

"Dude! Damn write that down! We are so adding that to a song!" He said

Wolfgang immediately took his phone out and started typing.

Ben couldn't help but looking at all of them as if they were some kind of criminals who were hiding from the law, Oyster noticed.

"Awe come on pal, live a little!" He tried being friendly and shook his shoulder a little

What no one would've expected was the way Ben's facial expressions changed so radically in the blink of an eye. In the second that Oyster made physical contact with him his eyes went wide, suddenly staring blankly into the distance, like a blind person would. He was even more pale now, if that was possible, the way he looked right now turned that innocent small ginger boy into an almost scary looking person.

"You... You like girls and... and boys as well..." He whispered coldly, his voice lacked of any emotion, he spoke like a robot

Now everyone was looking at him with a small amount of fear, because he looked nothing like himself. Specially Oyster who knew that his words were terribly right, but what could've given him away?

At last Ben shook his head, tightly closing his eyes and breathing heavily. When he finally stopped and opened his eyes his harmless look came back. He looked so frustrated and distressed.

"I...I..." He couldn't even articulate

Max hurried to think of a way to get both of them out of there "Okay! We uh... Should get going..." He leaned a little closer to Gideon "save me some nicotine please..." He whispered before grabbing Ben by the collar of his shirt and dragging him out of that hallway.

Once he had made a hundred percent sure they were far enough away he practically smacked him against the lockers.

"What the fuck was all of that?!" Oh how much he wanted to scream at him, but the school was still filled with students and even though the hallway was empty, the classrooms weren't, so he limited himself to just speak agitatedly

Ben was shaking in fear, his companion could literally snap his neck if he wanted to, and the sudden drain of energy he felt every time he lost control of his powers this way wasn't helping at all.

"I...I... I don't know" he said frustratedly, he hated how he was abnormal either as a a common teen or as a supe, he didn't belong anywhere "It's all part of my power disability... I'll never get to stop myself from slipping into other's minds and finding what they try their hardest to hide. Do you think it's easy for me? How would you feel if you knew the biggest insecurities of all the people around you?! It kills you on the inside and the worst part is that there's nothing you can do to fight it!" As he spoke his voice started getting less shaky and louder, he was finally letting it all out

By the end of his words Max just stood there watching him with both pity and shock, he felt somewhat sorry for him (which was very unlike for him) and so taken back by the ferocious way the small scared boy he knew had spoken.

"Okay... Man just... Listen now, it'll be different now, I swear... Now you've got a frie- acquaintance! Uh.. Me. An acquaintance who's willing to kick your ass whenever you start bursting all of the hidden sins of someone" Max said humorously, even Ben couldn't keep his little chuckle in "Just go to the nurse saying that you've got a headache, then ask for a confirmation that you were actually at the nursery and use it so the teacher lets you into your class" the villain advised him

The boy just nodded and started to walk away, when he was about six feet away from Max he suddenly stopped and turned around "And Max?" He called

"Yes?"

"Don't worry... A good thing about not being able to stop myself from knowing what everyone's thinking is that I'm great at keeping secrets" he assured him

"Why would I be worried?.."

"Well... I may or may not have read your mind just a little bit when you were talking to Phoebe..." He explained

"...and what did you see?"

"Ehh... Nothing you don't already know" he smiled and right after that kept walking, leaving a very confused teen with a thoughtful frown plastered on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Phoebe Thunderman was without a doubt one of the kindest and biggest hearted people anyone can ever meet. She always saw the bright side of everything and everyone, loved deeply and hated very little of things. And those things she did hate were: a) missing a Channing Tatum movie marathon; b) any sort of unfairness; and c) being under circumstances that forced her to miss any of her school classes. However, the fact that she should be analyzing the chemical reactions of different kinds of atoms with the rest of her group instead of storming troughs the hallways at that moment was far from being the reason of her current enragement.

She angrily walked into the school's nursery to meet just exactly what she was told by Principal Bradford, her brother laying at the room's bed with a purple bruise on his jaw and bleeding fists.

Oh that's right, another thing she also hated was seeing her loved ones suffering, but of course, if that loved one in question makes themselves suffer, that would be a paradox Phoebe couldn't handle and would often end up in her sudden frustration.

Before she could even approach him (and noticing that the young, yet, moody lady they had as a nurse was nowhere to be seen) she used her telekinesis to hit him hard with one of the pillows of the bed. That was when he finally noticed her presence.

"Ouch! Phoebe! I'm not sure if you've noticed already but I think I've had enough pain for today. Thank you very much!" He fired with thick sarcasm

"What is your goddamn problem Maximus?!" She threw her hands in the air, pacing back and forth around the room, finally letting all of her anger out. Her face was reddening in desperate fury "This is your third fight this month! Are you aware of that?! I can expect one every now and then but not this much!" She yelled

Max threw his head back, not feeling in the mood to deal with this right now "Phoebe can we... Can we just discuss this later?" He pleaded tiredly

But his twin was in too much frustration in that moment to even reason "No! We can't Max! I'm tired of covering you up! I can't keep pretending to be mom just so you can beat the hell out of everyone who does as much as brushing past you in the hallways! Today I'm telling mom and dad about all of your fights!" She threatened ferociously

Her last statement, obviously, caused Max to rapidly raise his head, his eyes wide open staring at his sister in shock. His actions quickly turned into a staring duel, Max's gaze filled with a pleading for compassion, for another chance, searching for any dim signals of hope. Phoebe's, in the other hand, was fully made of hostility, displeasure, and... Just a dash of helpless worry. Every second in the room made breathing harder, both of them were equally stubborn, neither would give up and look away any time soon which wasn't helping with the growing tension in between them.

And just right there, the door opens revealing a familiar red head walking in with a bottle of orange juice on his hand, his presence putting a harsh end to the heated feeling that had been simultaneously tightening the chests of both twins.

"Here's the orange juice you asked for" Ben said formally, but of course, he was never casual

Max took it in his hands and used this opportunity, now that Ben had finally stood between them cutting their stares, to close his eyes and lay back.

"I can't believe you decided to face this much trouble just because you overheard the guy who Phoebe rejected for Formal calling her a... 'Hooker' with his friends" the boy made quoting signs with his hands to indicate that said guy had used a much stronger word than hooker

At the mention of this fact Phoebe stared at her father's friend son with sudden interest.

"Ben!" Max reproached him

"I'm sorry, what?" Asked the interested hero

"Yeah, I don't know why you look so surprised, I mean, the past five fights he's been involved with were against guys who were harassing you somehow..." He stated as if it was beyond obvious

"I said. Ben! Get out of my head!" The supervillain called him a second time

The boy looked at Phoebe and back at Max repeatedly until he realized what he had done "oh.. I- I-..." But before he could think of something the school's bell rang, he let out a big sight he didn't know he was holding and let down his tensed up shoulders as if a heavy weight would've been lifted from them "English! Oh yikes! I gotta go to English class! Sorry Max!" Ben wasn't athletic, not even the smallest bit, but boy, could be run away from his problems? In a fraction of a second, he was out.

As soon as he left them alone Phoebe turned her head back at her brother, somehow she was no longer concerned about missing her next class "Max... Anything you want to admit?"

"Nop!" He popped on the P, playing with his bottle of juice, not daring to look up

She sighted and took a seat at the border of the bed "Don't force me to use the Thundertwins truth demand" she said softly, he looked up at her.

"You already used it three times this month"

"Nice try... I know I've only used it twice" Se crossed her arms

Her brother looked at the ceiling, mentally complaining to the God he didn't believe in before sighting and giving up.

"Well you already heard it all..."

"But why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because! Ugh... Pheebs you wouldn't get it... Teenage boys are morons okay? And when a moron wants a girl he can't have their easiest way to deal with the desperation is calling her a whore, a slut, saying she's slept with thousands of guys... And since there's a lot of jocks in that situation with you I didn't think you'd need to worry about it" his eyes were glued at the ceiling, the last thing he wanted right now was to look at his sister's face

"I didn't _need_ to know about the guys bullying me behind my back?" She reiterated to let him know how incoherent that sounded

He sighted "fine, I didn't _want_ you to know, because I didn't want you to worry, alright?"

"So... Beating them and then letting the principal report you several times was a better option?" Her voice was almost fully drained from all the fury it had

"Hey, you know I like doing things my way. And they did stop talking about you after all..." The ghost of a grin flew at the edges of his lips

That's when Phoebe realized she was no longer mad, Max was still an irresponsible dumbass for letting himself in all of this trouble but hey, that's who he is, she couldn't change that, and she still owed him for having her back. Her hand found it's way resting on the top of his "Thank you... For trying to help me in your... Reckless, violent, and immature way... But still sweet" she chuckled

He laughed along, he didn't have the heart to tell her that his knuckles stung like hell when her fingertips softly brushed against them. Call it masochism, but he still enjoyed it.

The last bell of a Friday can be the most beautiful, merciful, and delightful sound the ears of any teenagers can hear. Either if you're a popular kid who can't wait for tonight's party or a straight A student dreaming about the comfort of your own home away from jocks, everyone enjoys weekends.

Ben Stridentman wasn't an exception at all, he hurried to exit his classroom, looking at the ground trying to avoid everyone's eyes while also being careful to stay out of their ways. He loathed the feeling of walking through crowded hallways, in fact, he hated any crowded place, with the inability to control his thought-gathering sometimes if he found himself with a big amount of people his brain would try to swallow everyone's information at once, which was dangerously overwhelming. As he hurried to get out of the place the ginger boy felt a heavy arm laying lazily over him, he was so weak it would've caused him to fall down if it wasn't because the arm's hand was firmly grasping onto his shoulder. He turned around to meet his new companion.

"Ben! Bensters! My main man Ben Ben-Bro!" Max greeted him being suspiciously friendlier than ever, the shorter kid needed no explanation

"No Max. I'm not going with you and your group of vandals to Hiddenville's New Year Fair just because your dad won't let you go with them unless he knows someone responsible will be there..." He immediately declined him before he could even ask

His friend made a pouting face "Awe come on red! You still owe me for giving me away with Phoebe a couple hours ago..." He reminded him

"I'm sorry Max! I didn't know!" He apologized

"I wouldn't care... If you came with me and my friends to the fair! Please! I already convinced Oyster that you're some kind of crazy Sherlock fanatic and that's how you found out on your own that he's bi, and he's actually happy the secret's out so we'll be alright! Please Ben you're my last hope!" He pleaded desperately

His friend had no choice as he rolled his eyes and gave in "Fine... But we aren't even, now you owe me" he added

That didn't seem to bother Max who was now celebrating by throwing his fist in the air "Totally! You're the best!" He praised him and messed up his red curls with euphoric affection before running off, probably to tell his friends he was going.

Ben rolled his eyes and kept walking, wether he liked it or not, he was starting to get used to his new friend's careless personality and learning to deal with it, honestly, convincing him of not using illegal chemicals for his experiments was a lot easier than just trying to have a civil conversation with Phoebe; girls were a whole unexplored area for the poor kid. The school's bus was just about to take off but he decided to walk instead, he needed some peace to clear his mind and assimilate all the new facts he had unintentionally swallowed, that's what he usually did.

After arriving to the Thunderman's household his first sight was Phoebe hugging a floral dress against herself, showing it to her mother who was trying to prepare lunch while also paying attention to her.

"Weren't you going to wear a different dress honey?" Asked Barb

"Yeah, but Cherry's wearing a shirt which is the exact same color of that dress and the last thing we need is a whole 'who looks better in it' drama going all over Instagram..." She explained in a 'dhu' tone as if it was a matter of a fact

That's when both women finally turned their attention to the just arrived guest.

"Oh hi sweety! We are you so late?" Asked the retired hero in her usual motherly tone

"I... I uhm... I wanted to walk..." He explained stuttering a little

"Oh that's alright, hey! Why don't you go to your room and choose what you're wearing for tonight's fair? Lunch will be ready in a minute!" She suggested

Ben nodded, pressed his lips together in a half heartfelt/half awkward smile and walked upstairs. The guests room he had been offered on his first day in Hiddenville wasn't the most luxurious room in the house, it was far from that, but it was decent and he was free to add all of his Superhero posters to the walls which made him feel a little more comfortable in his new environment. As he walked in and closed the door he let himself fall on the bed, his head still ached a little from all the thoughts he had read back at school, it was terrible to have his head full so much unnecessary details. He didn't need to know some Cassandra girl had stolen fifty dollars from her mother's purse, or that some Brett guy was all hyper about going to prom with his crush Claire, but then again he was already used to all of that. Ben spent the rest of his afternoon playing his dad's video game called "Strident Fighter!" and occasionally rolling his eyes at the noises coming from downstairs:

"No Billy! You can't be the queen of our Lego castle! That's me!"

"Fine! Then I'll just be the princess!"

Or

"Phoebe isn't that shirt mine?"

"Pfff... I have no idea what you're talking about Max..."

"Pheebs! Give it back!"

And so on, Ben was an only child and his parents were divorced, he was used to having his old house all for his own and the place always being dead silent, this house was the other side of the coin, always full of laughter, screaming, talking, etc. Later at nine he heard someone calling on his door.

"Ben! The guys are here! Are you ready?" Max's voice echoed in the room

"I'll be there in a minute!" He answered, shutting down his Nintendo.

He just simply grabbed his big coat and walked out, fashion was a no-go to him.

Downstairs were Oyster and Wolfgang holding Gideon by his ankles so he hanged upside down, as he tried to eat gummy bears in that position Max cheered. But there was another thing in the room which was terrifyingly alarming to the poor Ben: girls.

Kelsey, Cherry and Phoebe giggled together as they took pictures of the boys and shared them in every possible social media. Ben stood awkwardly at the end of the staircase, just the simple sight of their female figure heated up and reddened his freckled face.

"Don't forget to send them to our group chat!" Oyster reminded them

"We won't!" Cherry laughed

Phoebe was the first person to notice the ginger boy standing all by himself speechless and she tried to be friendly and make him feel part of the group.

"Hey Ben! You're finally here, come on I'll introduce you to the rest" she smiled and dragged him by the wrist, the physical contact making him panic

"Guys! Have you met Ben already?" She said

Everyone shot him kind smiles and waved a little, they could be a very unconventional group but they were nice kids for sure.

"We already do, hey Bro!" Gideon said still upside down, right before his friends carefully put him down

"Well we didn't, hi Ben! My name's Kelsey" The brown skinned girl approached him and held out her hand, the skinny supe could only stare at it alarmed and not knowing what to do. Hiddenville's superhero noticed and she decided to help him by grabbing his arm and raising it in order for him to reluctantly shake hands with her friend.

"H- Hi..." He stuttered, not only because of how immensely nervous he was but also because he tried not to show trough his weak voice all the various facts he was collecting from her mind.

Some were old, like her irrational fear of tortoises because her cousin's one had bitten her when she was nine; others were odd, like the fact that she really wanted to pee but was so ashamed to ask where the bathroom was; at last he absorbed a recent memory, he saw her staring at herself in her room's mirror trying to pick out the perfect hairstyle for hours, he saw all the previous ponytails, headbands and updos she had tried before finally picking on a side French braid. Through his mind ran the proud feeling she had felt when she looked at herself in the mirror and felt satisfied, he knew how much she was hoping someone would compliment it. Finally he shook his head back to reality.

Normally he would've looked down and stayed quiet the whole night. He barely knew these guys and it is a matter of a fact how much it takes his shy self to feel comfortable around a guy, let alone that there were _girls_ here as well. But some why he felt a strange rush of boldness run trough his veins as he let a full sentence escape his lips.

"I like your braid, it looks... complicated" he announced giving Kelsey just exactly what she wanted

An awed expression took over the girl's eyes as she dedicated him an honest smile "Thank you!" She took the braid in both of her hands "it's actually not that hard, I just divided my hair in two sections and started passing strands from one side to the other..." Ben nodded with full interest to every word she said, a big part of himself couldn't stop freaking out on the fact that he was having a conversation with a girl and he was being holy freaking successful on it, other very small part of him felt just right, probably because making Kelsey feel good about herself was good thing, and the superhero blood running through his entire body fed itself from righteousness.

"...and that's it" She announced

He smiled "Really suits you"

The girl turned her face to the rest of her friends and put on a playful smile "I like this kid!" She chuckled

Ben noticed his hosts were missing from the group of teenagers sharing a conversation at the living room's couch so he scanned the room for a second before spotting them, sitting together at the kitchen's table they were just a couple feet away from the rest of their friends but it still gave them a little of privacy. He saw their hands held together while Phoebe carefully placed a bandage around her brother's damaged knuckles, and how Max would stare at her affectionately but would drop his gaze every time she looked up to meet his eyes. The non-verbal conversation between them was enough advisement for Ben to realize he really didn't need to know what went trough those twins' heads at the moment so he tried to cut his stare before any information slipped in, but it was just a little too late. He didn't catch anything important, luckily, but he was now aware of the fact that Max's bandages had been settled a good ten minutes ago and they had just stayed there in an unspoken agreement of pretending she was still working on them while they just drew circles on each other's hands with their thumbs. The ginger boy shook his head at them, even though they weren't looking.

"Guys! I think we should get going!" Oyster informed while looking at his phone "it's almost eight already"

"He's right guys, and we've got a curfew" Phoebe agreed, finally pulling away, which made her palms feel cold now that they weren't sharing warmth with her brother's

"Let's go then!" Cherry jumped from her seat and was the first one to make it to the house's front door, she kindly held it open for almost everyone, at last Oyster held it and motioned her to leave first, which she gladly did.

The fair was the same every year, same old Ferris wheel, same old smell of sweets, popcorn and sweat, and the same tricky games you just couldn't win. But there was something about going with all of your friends and just enjoying their company that made every year special on it's own way. As soon as they arrived the place Ben noticed that Hiddenville wasn't just as small as he would've liked it to be, considering the big crowds walking all around. Feeling worried he pulled the first friend he had made when he arrived a little away from the group.

"Max... There's too many people in here... I don't think it's safe for me... I could just randomly start reading everyone's minds and I mean. _Everyone's_ " He stated seriously

"Ben, live a little! Is it a life or death situation?"

"No but-"

"See? The fair's super fun! And I honestly think the guys like you!"

That last statement made him feel taken back "...you really think so?"

"Yeah... You're blending in a lot much better than I thought you would, you even fucking flirted with Kelsey!" He joked making his friend's face bright red

"I- I... I wasn't flirting! And besides-"

"Okay okay, I'm sorry, what I mean is... I'm proud of you" The supervillain placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with so much sincerity he almost didn't look like himself "Can't you just try your hardest to control it and enjoy yourself tonight?" He pleaded

The way Max looked like he was really looking forward to have fun not only with his group but also with him and the way he was actually treating him like a friend right now would've been persuasive to anyone who had been in Ben's situation during his whole life, a lonely life of being labelled as a freak for something he had no control over. But look at him now! There was a group of seven teens who were more than happy to hang out with him! There was even a really pretty girl on a French braid who had been batting her eyelashes at him all the way there! He even started to wonder if that was real life. In the end he gave in "Fine... I... I'll try".

"That's the attitude!" Max cheered and lead him back to the rest of their friends

As it was explained before, what made every fair unique and great was going with the right people. First, they went to get some pizza from this place, but it quickly turned into an eating battle between Wolfgang and Gideon where Cherry took a lot of pictures and Kelsey a funny video of Wolfgang's victory and both of them throwing up minutes later, the girls high-fived each other singing "Blackmail!" together. Then, Oyster won teddy bears for all the girls at one of those fill-the-balloon-with-a-water-gun game, looks like he was really skilled at it, who would've thought? He even won a stuffed penguin for Gideon who had been staring lovingly at it for a long while.

"I think I'll name him Chad" He said with so much seriousness

"...Why?" Cherry was oblivious of his reasons

"Aw come on! Look at his face! He is such a Chad!" Everything seemed beyond obvious to the Asian boy, his friends wouldn't dare to break his bubble and just went with it.

Later on they took a couple rides at the Ferris wheel, Kelsey asked Ben to be her seat partner, Max and Phoebe went together, Oyster and Cherry agreed on being partners and that left Gideon and Wolfgang together. Finally with the very small amount of energy and money they had left they decided to just buy a drink before driving back home. At the table all of them sat together laughing at all of what they had done that night, showing the pictures and selfies they took and talking about their favourite parts of the night. Ben stayed silent for a second and admired the scene, those kids sitting around him didn't think of him as a nerd freak, they didn't care if he was the most handsome guy in the world or just a pale short skinny dude, they didn't know he was abnormal to say the least, and they had had fun with him for the past three hours. This was beyond new to him, and for the very first time in his life, he didn't feel afraid of the unknown, he enjoyed it.

"That was the last picture I took" Commented Cherry as she held onto the collar of the leather Jacket Oyster had let her borrow since the night was getting colder

"Are they all in our group chat?" Asked Phoebe as she scrolled trough their conversations

"Yah!" Wolfgang confirmed

"We should add Ben to it!" Oyster suggested, suddenly centering all the attention on their new friend

"Yeah!" Kelsey agreed

"Re- really?" He asked

"Yeah man, you earned it!" Max gave him a playful punch in his arm, making sure he was being soft since he knew how easy it was to harm his friend

"Who's the group's admin?" Gideon asked

"Me!" Phoebe answered "what's your phone number Ben?" She handed her iPhone to the ginger boy. His shaking hand took the device and nervously typed it in on her contacts, putting a nerdy face emoticon as his name before saving it and giving it back.

A little of typing on her phone and just seconds later everyone got a notification in their phones.

 _Pheebs:D has added Ben:B to the group: Fwiends!11!1!_

After said announcement was done everyone clapped, whistled and cheered not caring on the smallest bit if all the people in other tables were giving them nasty looks.

"It's official! You're officially one of us!" Cherry congratulated him

"Really?" He couldn't believe all of this was truly happening

Nothing could ruin that perfect moment right? What could possibly go wrong when you're sitting on a table with the friends you never thought you'd ever get in your life and they're all grinning and looking at you as if you were the coolest person they've ever know? And sitting next to the gorgeous girl who could be possibly interested in you... Oh right... _That could go wrong._

Kelsey made a bad move, affectionately squeezing the hand of the ginger boy next to her she unintentionally triggered his incapacity to control his mind sucking. Her touch made his eyes go blank and Max recognized that emotionless, spine-chilling look on his face. He gave his sister a worried look.

"You... You deal with...anxiety..." His voice was cold and distant and gave a harsh end to the hyper air flying around his friends who were know staring at him in shock, specially Kelsey who was also hurt on how he had given her away with his terribly right statement.

To make it all harder, that wasn't even the worst part. After hours of perfectly dealing with a big crowd this had suddenly let free the starving beast that lived in Ben's mind and it longed for all the possible thoughts around him. He felt his head being filled with more and more thoughts that he could manage, like a balloon that is being filled with so much air it ends up exploding. A headache would've been paradise to him in that moment. He almost felt his brain pounding against his skull, it felt like all of his surroundings were spinning around, he was dizzy and weak. Taking both hands to hold onto his temples as he moaned in pain, dramatically falling onto the ground and curling up into a ball. The guys just stared at him, all worried but specially a pair of twins who knew what exactly was happening to him.

"We need to get him out of here!" Were the last words he heard, pronounced by Phoebe's distressed voice, before he blacked out.

There's this strange feeling of teleportation you feel when you go unconscious on a place and wake up in another one. That's exactly what he felt when he opened his eyes to meet a cold white hospital room, he was lonely and the only sound he could perceive was his own breathing. His head still ached like hell but at least it pounded no more, once he analyzed his actual situation according to the previous happenings that he could remember he immediately panicked anxiously.

"Hello?!" He tried to call for anyone who could possibly listen to his voice

"Oh my gosh, he woke up!" He heard a faint whisper from a familiar voice

After said voice, which belonged to Max, spoke; the room was soon filled with all of the kids who had been with him at the fair. Their clothes were still the same and that calmed him down just a little bit now that he knew he couldn't have spaced out for too long, how ever, there were dark circles under their eyes that could only mean it was past their usual sleeping schedule. They looked so worried.

"Dude what happened to you?" Gideon asked

"I... I don't know..." He lied

"We were so scared" said Cherry

"Are you feeling better now?" Oyster concerned

"What would've possibly happened to you?" Kelsey wondered

Okay, he definitely did not need them getting all suspicious at the moment and really didn't want to think of an excuse right now "uh... Oh... Guys I... I'm not feeling well right now, I don't think you all should be here together... Thank you all so much for coming and for caring but you should probably get some rest too, do you think you could give me a second alone with Phoebe and Max?" He asked politely, and they understood

Each one exited the room silently, giving him a last comforting smile until there was only the three super kids remaining in there. The twins made their way to the two chairs that stood aside from their friend's bed and took the seats. They stayed in silence for a couple seconds just listening to the foot steps of their group until they couldn't hear them anymore, Ben finally spoke.

"Did the docs scanned my brain?" He asked with fear

"Don't worry... They didn't..." Phoebe assured him

"Are you sure? Remember that my cerebellum is twice as big as the normal human size..." He reminded them

"We know..." Max calmed him down "they just injected you some meds, we were here the whole time..."

"Oh... Good." He finally seemed a little less tensed up

"You should probably get some more rest... How's your head feeling?" Phoebe concerned

"Full..." Ben joked, earning a small chuckle from his friends which soon lightened the mood

After the small laugh they shared Ben didn't seem to find anything else to worry about, at least not at that time. The room was suddenly taken over by a comfortable silence in which they all just enjoyed that the day was over. Soon enough he drifted off to sleep one more time, who could blame him though?Anyone would be exhausted after swallowing an amount of information that'd take around five months of intense studying for a normal individual to memorize it all. However, he woke up around three in the morning to the sound of snorting only to find his pair of new best friends still sitting next to him. Her head laid on his shoulder, his head rested on hers, and their fingers were locked together as usual. Ben unintentionally felt it. The feeling of belonging they shared when their hands remained together.

They were a set after all. Literally made together.


End file.
